Method for determining a set of filter coefficients for an acoustic echo compensator

A computer program product, comprising one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media having computer-executable instructions for determining a set of filter coefficients for an acoustic echo compensator in a beamformer arrangement, the computer instructions comprising:

• computer code for providing a plurality of sets of filter coefficients for the acoustic echo compensator, each set of filter coefficients corresponding to one of a predetermined number of steering directions of the beamformer arrangement, wherein the predetermined number of steering directions is equal to or greater than the number of microphones in the microphone array;
• computer code for determining time delays for the microphones for a current steering direction, wherein the current steering direction is not one of the predetermined number of steering directions corresponding to any one of the sets of filter coefficients stored in the memory;
• and
• computer code for computing an estimate for a current set of filter coefficients for the current steering direction from the time delays for the microphones for the current steering direction and from first and second ones of the plurality of sets of filter coefficients for the acoustic echo compensator which correspond to different ones of the steering directions that are stored in the memory.

A system for echo compensation in a beamformer arrangement, the system comprising:

• a beamformer arrangement comprising:
• a microphone array comprising at least two microphones, and
• a speaker localization module for receiving microphone signals from each of the at least two microphones and generating from the microphone signals a beamformed signal representative of a current steering direction;
• a memory for storing a plurality of sets of filter coefficients, each set of filter coefficients corresponding to one of a predetermined number of steering directions of the beamformer arrangement, wherein the predetermined number of steering directions is equal to or greater than the number of microphones in the microphone array;
• a filter coefficient determination module configured:
• to receive the beamformed signal representative of the current steering direction, wherein the current steering direction is not one of the predetermined number of steering directions corresponding to any one of the sets of filter coefficients stored in memory;
• to determine time delays for the microphones based upon the beamformed signal for the current steering direction;
• to provide first and second ones of the plurality of sets of filter coefficients stored in the memory;
• and
• to compute, using a computer processor, an estimate for a current set of filter coefficients for the current steering direction, wherein the estimate is calculated based upon the determined time delays and based on the first and second sets of provided filter coefficients;
• and
• an acoustic echo compensator receiving the estimated current filter coefficients and adaptively filtering the beamformed signal for echo compensation of the beamformed signal.